>> Jen: Happy Wednesday, faithful listeners, and welcome to, uh, the Bible Explained podcast. We're going to be discussing one of my favorite stories when I was a little kid. This is the story of Naaman the Leper. You guys will never guess what I was able to do today. I was able to open my windows for the first time in months. In fact, my window is open right now and all of the fresh air is coming in. It is actually mildly warm outside. It is currently 60 degrees in my
area and I couldn't be happier. The snow is still on the ground. It hasn't fully melted yet. We still have quite a bit and it's going to take several more, I imagine 60 degree days for it to melt completely. So I'm hoping, hoping that it ends up melting. And man, I just can't wait to see the green grass again. I'm looking forward to that a lot. Tell me what the weather is like in your area. I do love hearing from all of you guys and I do read all of
my emails. For those of you who don't know, I do read them all and I try to respond to all of them in a timely manner as well if I can. But. But let's go ahead and read 2 Kings 5 today, 1 through 16. We're going to talk about Naaman, who is the captain of the army of Syria, and how he visits Elisha because he has a serious problem. I'll be reading today's portion from the web, but of course feel free
to grab the version of the Bible that you prefer to read this morning. And also your cup of coffee or your cup of tea. I have a cup of cinnamon apple tea that I just got the other day and I really rather enjoy it. It is quite a nice tea. Anyway, faithful listeners, grab your favorite hot beverage and let's read 2 Kings 5:1 through 16. Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king Assyria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had given victory to
Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. The Syrians had gone out in bands and had brought away, captive out of the land of Israel, a little girl. And she waited on Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, I wish that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria. Then he would heal him of his leprosy. Someone went in and told his lord, saying, the little girl who is from the land of Israel said this. The king Assyria said, go now and
I will send a letter to the King of Israel. He departed and took with him, uh, 10 talents of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold and 10 changes of clothing. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, now, when this letter has come to you, behold, I have sent Naaman, my servant to you that you may heal him of his leprosy. When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, am I God to kill and, um, to make alive that this man
sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me. It was so when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent it to the king, saying, why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me now, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come to you again, and you shall be clean. But Naaman was angry and he went away and said, behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of Yahweh, his God, and wave it his hand all over the place and heal the leper. Aren't Abenah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be clean? So he turned
and went away in a rage. His servants came near and spoke to him and said, my father, if the prophet had asked you to do some great thing, wouldn't you have done it? How much? Rather than when he says to you, wash and be clean. Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh was restored like the flesh
of a little child. And he was clean. He returned to the man of God, he and all of his company, and came and stood before him and said, see, now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Now, therefore, please take a gift from your servant. But he said, as Yahweh lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none. When I was a little kid, I just remember being absolutely fascinated
with this story. I heard about it in Sunday school, and it was one of my favorite stories in the Bible. And to this day, I'm still really fascinated by this particular story. So in verse 1, Naaman is introduced. And Naaman was a famous guy in Syria at this time, because he was captain of the entire army and he had given the armies of Syria great
success in their battles. And this is the only Gentile in all of Scripture who is classified as a mighty man of valor, which is what it says in verse one. Naaman, the captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man. With his master, he was honorable, because by him Yahweh had given victory to Syria, and he was also a mighty man of valor. To me, this portion really shows the inspiration of the Scriptures, because think about
Israel and Syria at this time period. They were constantly fighting, they were at odds with each other. They were not on good terms. Even look back to the end of 1 Kings, one of the Syrians ended up killing King Ahab, and the Syrians were always fighting against Israel while Ahab was the king. So Israel and Syria were not on
good terms at all. And yet, Whoever is writing 2 Kings, chapter 5 is giving Naaman a lot of credit, which to me shows the inspiration of the Scriptures, because God is the one who sees the heart. If this was just an uninspired Israelite writing something about Naaman, I feel like it would be a very different statement. I feel like it would say he is an enemy, he's a gentile cretin, he is not a mighty man of valor, and God has certainly never helped him in his battles. But yet that's not what
it says. Instead, it says Naaman was a great man, it says he was honorable. It said Yahweh had given him victory in battle, and it also says he was a mighty man of valor. So within one sentence, four praises are heaped on this Naaman guy. And this really shows, I think, the inspiration of the Scriptures, because God was the one inspiring the author of 2 Kings 5 to write all of this down. But even though Naaman was this honorable guy and well respected by all of the Syrians, he had a serious
problem. He was a leper. And for those of you who don't know the details of leprosy, it's basically a skin disease that slowly deteriorates your body over time and you start losing body parts. Just like pieces of your skin start falling off and your fingernails start loosening and falling off, and then your entire finger starts falling off, and then your nose falls off and just terrible things end up happening to your body. When you have leprosy, your entire body deteriorates
until you die. And that is what leprosy is. And so Naaman, even though he had all of this great Stuff all of this commendation in life. He couldn't really fully enjoy it because of this skin disease that he was suffering. But God was having mercy on Naaman because it says the Syrians in verse 2 had gone out in bands and had brought away a captive out of the land who was a little girl from Israel. And she waited
on Naaman's wife. So there you go. That really shows the problems, uh, between Syria and Israel right there. That not long ago, Syria had gone into Israel and taken captives out of Israel, which included the. This little Israelite girl who became Naaman's wife's slave. So the Syrians did not treat the Israelites well at all. They, uh, were close neighbors who hated each other, and they'd attack each other all the time. And so Naaman now has this little girl in his possession who is an
Israelite. But this little girl ended up being a slave for Naaman's wife. And this little girl becomes like a beacon of hope for the entire family. Because she tells her mistress, I wish that my lord Naaman were with the prophet who is in Samaria. Then he would heal
him of his leprosy. It's kind of interesting that that little girl didn't hold any anger or resentment against Naaman or against Naaman's family, even though she had been kidnapped from Israel, even though possibly her parents had died in this raid. And she became a slave. She became the property of somebody else. She did not hold any grudge against Naaman or against her mistress. And in a sense, this girl also spread the message of Yahweh to her mistress and to Naaman as
well. Because this starts a whole snowball effect. This little girl mentions, hey, you know, I wish that my master would go see the prophet who lives in Samaria, because he would be healed of his leprosy then. And Naaman's wife ends up telling him. He's like, hey, the girl from Israel said this that there is a prophet in Samaria that you should go see.
So Naaman takes up the little girl's offer, and he goes to the king of Syria and gets a letter of commendation from the king of Syria so that Naaman will not be turned down by the prophet once he gets to Samaria. So the king of Syria sends this letter ahead to the king
of Israel who lives in Samaria. And the king of Israel, it, uh, says, received this letter and read it and tore his clothes and says, am I God that I can kill and make alive that this king of Syria sends to me a man that needs to be cured of his leprosy. Uh, does he think that I can do that? Really? He tore his clothes out of fear because he thought the Syrian king was picking a
fight with him. And what's really sad is that the king of Israel had so little faith that he didn't even realize that Naaman could be cured of his leprosy. He didn't realize that there was a prophet practically on his doorstep in his same city who could cure Naaman of this leprosy, because this king had no faith in God and no faith in the miracles of God, and also probably did not have any solid relationship with Elisha at
all. So the king of Israel thinks the Syrian king is picking another fight, and that's why he ends up tearing his clothes in complete fear. And Elisha hears about this, and he sends to the king, and he's like, why are you ripping your clothes? Don't you realize that God has been using me to perform all of these miracles before? Why do you have such little faith?
Send Naaman to me. And meanwhile, Naaman is on his way to Israel, and he brings 10 talents of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold, and 10 changes of clothing. So not only did Naaman have a letter of commendation from the king, but he also took with him this elaborate gift. So Naaman was desperate. He was really, really hoping that the prophet could heal him. And once again, all of this started from that little girl who held no resentment in her heart and possibly was a
Yahweh follower herself. So Naaman finally gets to Samaria and is told to go to Elisha's house. And so Naaman gets to Elisha's house with his huge company of people that traveled with him. And it says in verse nine, naaman came with his horses and with his chariots and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha doesn't even come out to see him.
That'd be like if the president of the United States, or the president, rather, of a foreign country, came with, like, all of his attendants in this fancy car and just pulled up to your doorstep, and you didn't go out to see him. So Elisha doesn't even go out to see him. Instead, he sends a messenger out to talk to Naaman. And so the messenger says in verse 10, go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean. And that's it.
And Naaman is infuriated. He's like, how dare Elisha not come out to see me? How Dare Elisha not wave his hands all over the place and do some sort of incantation in the name of Yahweh and heal me the way I wanted him to. That's what he says in verse 11. Behold, I thought, he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of Yahweh, his God, and wave his hands over the place and heal my leprosy.
And so Naaman, infuriated at the treatment that he just got because he's used to, you know, a lot of pomp and a lot of people paying respects to him, he storms off in complete anger in his chariot and he says to his servants, you know, the rivers in Damascus are way cleaner than that disgusting filthy Jordan river that he wants me to wash in. I should just go home. Why can't I just go to my own hometown and wash in my clean, nice river of Damascus? But his servants give him advice.
They say, look, if the Prophet had asked you to do this great and grandiose thing, wouldn't you have done it? He's only asking you to go wash in the Jordan river seven times. It's such a simple thing, so why don't you go do it? It might end up working. And because of the wise advice from his servants, Naaman goes and does it. And this kind of shows a little bit more about Naaman's character. It almost seems like his servants, though they respected him, were
not afraid to talk to him. Because all of the advice Naaman has taken so far has come from his servants. First from the little Israeli girl and now from his servants who give him this wise advice. And Naaman takes that advice. So that shows something about Naaman's character that he was able to take advice and take advice from people who worked for him and who
served him on a day to day basis. Meaning that even though Naaman, I'm sure, expected people to respect him, it doesn't seem like he treated his servants that terribly because his servants actually really seem to like him and seem to want the best for him. And Naaman accepts his servant's advice and he goes down into the Jordan and dips himself in the water seven times. And he has faith. It says he did this according to the saying
of the man of God. So he followed the instructions perfectly, which took faith. I mean, it really is bizarre for somebody to tell you that if you wash in a filthy river, because the Jordan river was notoriously filthy, if you wash in a filthy river seven times, that your skin disease is going to be healed. And Yet Naaman had faith. It says his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child. And he was clean. In other words, his skin turned as young as a baby's. Again, it
was clean. There was no more sores. If he lost any parts of his body, they were back again. Everything had been returned to normal on his body. And so he returned to the man of God, he and all of his company. And he came and stood before him. So now Elisha comes out to see him. And he says to Elisha, see, now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Now, therefore, please take a gift from your servant. But
Elisha refuses the gift. He says, as Yahweh lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And we'll definitely talk about why Elisha refuses this gift, this elaborate gift from Naaman, when we talk about this next week. But the moral of this entire chapter so far is that, firstly, our words have a lot of power. We could potentially say something to somebody that starts an entire snowball effect that causes them to. To possibly change their ways or causes them
to start believing in Yahweh. There's a, ah, verse in James that talks about how much power the tongue actually has, and this is evidently true in 2 Kings, chapter 5. But also, it's really wise to take, uh, good advice. Proverbs 11:14 out of the amp says, where there is no wise or intelligent guidance, the people fall and go off course like a ship without a helm. But in the abundance of wise and godly counselors,
there is victory. Imagine if Naaman hadn't taken the advice of his servants and just stormed off and went back home. He would have had leprosy for his entire life until he eventually died from it. But because he listened to good advice, he found victory at the end. So it's wise to take good advice. And we're gonna talk about the rest of this chapter, um, on Monday. So I hope to see all of you guys then. I'm excited to talk about the rest of this chapter because it gets kind of
dicey. We're gonna see what Elisha ends up doing for Naaman and what Gehazi, Elisha's servant, ends up doing as well. So, faithful listeners, I hope you enjoyed Second Kings chapter, chapter five so far. And also tune in tomorrow because we'll be talking about Second Corinthians chapter 11, and talking more about Paul writing to the Corinthian Church. Faithful listeners, have a fantastic
and wonderful rest of your Wednesday. I hope the weather stays so nice for you guys, but I will see you all tomorrow, 6am or whenever you choose to wake up. Happy listening and God bless.